Sandra Parshall

Deputy sheriff Tom Bridger and veterinarian Rachel Goddard investigate the suspicious deaths of Cam and Meredith Taylor, two long-time social activists who ran Mason County's failing newspaper. The case becomes even more complicated when both Tom and Rachel discover that they have personal ties to the case.

Tom Bridger, who is half Melungeon, left his small mountain community to escape the lingering prejudice against the mixed race group. Now, in the face of family tragedy, he has returned and taken on his father's job as a county sheriff's deputy. The bones of a Melungeon woman have surfaced and all evidence points to murder. The victim's poor family and the wealthy white family she married into scramble to protect their secrets from Tom's probing....